System and Method for an Electronic Product Advisor

ABSTRACT

A system and method operates on a client device and acquires a suspect list of user products based on information derived from the client device. The system normalizes the list, and the user confirms the accuracy of the product list. The user product list is sent to a server where the user product list is compared to other lists using collaborative filtering techniques. The collaborative filtering techniques determine products of interest for the use and the level of interest of the user. The system computes a similarity measure based upon the number of similar products that match the user&#39;s product list and rankings provided by the user and others. Demographic and behavioral data may also be used in performing the comparison and the similarity measure. The system acquires editorial rankings of products from other users and provides a ranked list of recommended products based upon the editorial rankings.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of prior U.S. Utility patentapplication Ser. No. 11/415,416, filed May 2, 2006 of the same title(Attorney Docket No. 20109.0033.NPUS00), which claims the benefit ofU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/676,280, filed May 2 2005,entitled “System and Method for Online Gaming Community” (AttorneyDocket No. 20109.0033.PZUS00), the disclosure of each being herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to collaborative filtering systems thatproduce personal recommendations by determining the similarity between auser and others. More particularly, it relates to systems and methodsfor providing product recommendations based upon user preferences andthe preferences of users with similar characteristics. The recommendedproducts include retail goods and services as well as electronicproducts such as games, computer programs, music files, and the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In recent years, networks and interconnectivity of individuals, groups,and organizations has dramatically increased. The Internet connects theworld by joining billions of connected users that represent variousentities, information, and resources. These connected users formenormous banks of resources, resulting in a world wide web of users. Theusers store and access documents or web pages, identified by uniformresource locators (URL), that can be accessed by other connected nodeson the network. This vast data store allows previously obscure orunknown information to be disseminated throughout the world. The usersperform a wide range of activities such as accessing information sourcesincluding news, weather, sports, and financial sites. Other users buyand sell products and services in electronic commerce systems.

One of the primary applications of the Web has been shopping, that is,the purchase of goods and services. Virtually every major commercial“brick and mortar” merchant has established a Web site for the showcaseand sale of their products. Further, many manufacturers sell productsdirectly over the Web. Finally, a plethora of on-line merchants, notpreviously existing in the brick and mortar world, have come intoexistence. As a result, virtually every product is available forpurchase over the Web from a plurality of merchants. This situation hasincreased the efficiency of markets by permitting shoppers to readilycompare products and terms of sale from plural merchants without theneed to physically travel to the merchant locations.

With this increase in efficiency of markets has come an increased burdenon the consumer of these products. To determine the best quality, lowestprice product now requires a consumer to sift through volumes andvolumes of potential providers. To reduce the number of irrelevantproduct providers and to increase the quality of a consumer's search,information regarding potential providers may be filtered to deliver themost relevant providers to the user.

Information filtering is performed in a number of ways. For example, acustomary consumer telephone directory of businesses, such as the YellowPages, filters product providers by geographic calling area. Further,Internet Service Providers and Internet portals also classifyinformation by categorizing web pages by topics such as news, sports,entertainment, and the like. However, these broad subject areas are notalways sufficient to locate information of interest to a consumer.

More sophisticated techniques for filtering products of interest toconsumers may be employed by identifying information about the user.These methods may monitor and record a consumer's purchase behavior orother patterns of behavior. Information may be collected by means ofsurveys, questionnaires, opinion polls, and the like. These conventionaltechniques may be extrapolated to the networked world by means ofinferential tracking programs, cookies, and other techniques designed toobtain consumer information with minimal consumer effort and minimalexpenditure of resources.

Information may be transferred and stored on a consumer's computer by aweb server to monitor and record information related to a user'sweb-related activities. The user's web-related information may includeinformation about product browsing, product selections, and purchasesmade by the user at web pages hosted by a web server. The informationstored by the inferential tracking programs is typically accessed andused by the web server when the particular server or web page is againaccessed by the user computer. Cookies may be used by web servers toidentify users, to instruct the server to send a customized version ofthe requested web page to the client computer, to submit accountinformation for the user, and so forth. Explicit and implicit userinformation collection techniques are used by a large number ofweb-based providers of goods and services including eBay.R™., Amazon.™.,and others. In some instances, user information gathered by the serversis used to create personalized profiles for the users. The customizedprofiles are then used to summarize the user's activities at one or moreweb pages associated with the server.

Current shopping advisory systems focus on enhanced shopping carts toprovide suggested additional products a user may purchase, while othershave developed advisory systems to provide product recommendations basedin part on a vendor payment to sort the vendor's product to the top ofthe list.

Conventional shopping advisory systems focus on a point of sale eventand only take into account a user's imminent product purchase andpossibly prior purchases from the specific merchant. These prior systemsdo not cover all related products a user acquired from a variety ofsources.

Further, these conventional systems do not utilize user profileinformation based on collected demographics, user ratings, andbehavioral data. Without this profile data, conventional systems do notprovide personalized product information.

Finally, conventional systems typically do not incorporate unbiasedprofessional editorial product reviews and ratings or end-user productreviews and ratings. Because they lack this editorial data, the typicaladvisory systems do not factor editorial rankings into the purchaseadvice.

Filtering methods based upon the content of the user's activities may beused to reach information, goods, and services for the user based uponcorrelations between the user's activities and the items. The filteringmethods and customized profiles may then be used to recommend or suggestadditional information, goods, and services in which the user may beinterested.

Filtering methods serve to organize the array of information, goods, andservices to assist the user by presenting materials that the user ismore likely to be interested in, or by directing the user to materialsthat the user may find useful. Filtering attempts to sift through thevast stores of information while detecting and uncovering lessconspicuous information that may be of interest to the user. Thefiltering methods attempt to locate items of meaningful information thatwould otherwise be obscured by the volume of irrelevant informationvying for the attention of the user.

Information filtering may be directed to content-based filtering wherekeywords or key articles are examined and semantic and syntacticinformation are used to determine a user's interests. Additionally,expert systems may be utilized to “learn” a user's behavior patterns.For example, expert systems or intelligent software agents may note auser's actions in response to a variety of stimuli and then respond inthe same manner when similar stimuli present in the future.

As expert systems grow, or as intelligent software agents expand tocover additional users or groups, the range and accuracy of theresponses may be refined to increase the efficiency of the system.Collaboration among users or groups of like users results in increasedaccuracy with regard to predicting future user responses based upon pastresponses. Evaluating feedback of other similar users is effective indetermining how a similar user will respond to similar stimuli. Usersthat agreed in the past will likely agree in the future. Thesecollaborative filtering methods may use weighted averaging techniquesfor user feedback that extracts ratings for articles such asinformation, goods, services, and the like, to predict whether anarticle is relevant to a particular user. With weighted averages,however, the character of the content is ignored or otherwise obscuredduring the averaging process because personal preferences, credibility,and other factors are lost.

What is needed is a system and a method of combining user profileinformation with collaborative and editorial data to provide users withcredible information regarding information, goods, and services.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method of combining userprofile information with collaborative and editorial data to provideusers with credible information regarding information, goods, andservices. The system and method may incorporate collaborative filteringand profiling measures to provide recommended products and to provide aforum in which users with similar characteristics and interests maycommunicate further.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention programmaticallyacquires a suspect list of items that a user already owns or desires toown, which the user then confirms and adds relevant ratings,demographic, and behavioral data. This data is then compared to adatabase of product lists and ratings from similar users. A similaritymeasure is computed for each product list based on the number of similarproducts contained on the list that match the consumer's list, rankings,behavioral, and demographic data. A ranked list of recommended productsthat the consumer does not own is then computed based on the similaritymeasure and the editorial ratings of the product. The invention thencauses the ranked list to be displayed to the consumer. The ranked listmay then be modified based on additional variables.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings illustrate an embodiment of the invention anddepict the above-mentioned and other features of this invention and themanner of attaining them. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary computer network in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary comparison module in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIGS. 3A-3D show a flow chart illustrating methods in accordance withthe present invention for presenting a ranked recommended product listto a user.

FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate an example of a community page template and ascreen shot of a community page, respectively.

FIGS. 5A-5C illustrate examples of the Community Review pages served bya system and method in accordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 6A-6D illustrate examples of the Community User ratings pagesserved by a system and method in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The following detailed description of the invention refers to theaccompanying drawings and to certain preferred embodiments, but thedetailed description of the invention does not limit the invention. Thescope of the invention is defined by the appended claims and equivalentsas it will be apparent to those of skill in the art that variousfeatures, variations, and modifications can be included or excludedbased upon the requirements of a particular use.

The present invention extends the functionality of current collaborativefiltering techniques to provide an advisory method combining userprofiling based on demographic and behavioral data with collaborativeand user and editorial rating data to provide a ranked list ofrecommended products. The present invention provides a ranked list ofrecommended “products” but is intended to cover additional items such asgames, music, computer programs, and other goods and services that mayexist in a less-tangible form than a concrete product. One of ordinaryskill in the art would understand that the term “product” should also beextended to encompass these other goods and services as well. Forbrevity, the term “product” as used in conjunction with the presentinvention should be understood to cover these other items and othersimilar goods and services as well.

The system and method of the present invention has many advantages overprior systems because the product advisor results are tailored to aparticular user based on demographic and behavioral data withcollaborative, user, and editorial rating data to reduce irrelevantresults. The present invention may be customized for individual users toreturn topically relevant products and lists to significantly reduce theoverall locating times and processing resources required while providingimproved relevancy, consistency, and reliability in delivering pertinentresults.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary computer system in which concepts andmethods consistent with the present invention may be performed.

As shown in FIG. 1, system 100 comprises a number of users 101 a, 101 b,101 c, 101 d from which a suspect list of user products may be acquired.Users 101 a, 101 b, 101 c, 101 d may be individuals, groups, clients,servers, and the like. Users 101 a, 101 b, 101 c, 101 d may access anadvisor server performing the method of the present invention, such asadvisor server 150 comprising an acquisition module 152, comparisonmodule 154, computation module 156, and display module 158 with which toaccess a database 160 of products. For clarity and brevity, four users101 a, 101 b, 101 c, 101 d are shown, but it should be understood thatany number of users may use the system 100 with which to accessrecommended products in a database 160. Database 160 may also be anetwork of databases as well, connected to advisor server 150 oraccessible by advisor server 150. Likewise, it should also be understoodthat any number of advisor servers may be used by the system. Multipleadvisor servers may be segregated by geographic location, by the type ornumber of recommended products that they offer, or by any number ofcriteria commonly used to configure server farms, web farms, orotherwise distribute computing resources and workloads between multiplecomputers and multiple modules.

For clarity and brevity, a single advisor server 150 comprisingacquisition module 152, comparison module 154, computation module 156,display module 158, and database 160 is shown. It should also beunderstood that users 101 a, 101 b, 101 c, 101 d and advisor server 150may be substituted for one another. That is, any user 101 a, 101 b, 101c, 101 d may access recommended products housed and stored by anotheruser. Advisor server 150 is illustrated as component modules 152, 154,156, 158, 160 merely to show a preferred embodiment and a preferredconfiguration. The recommended product lists can be in a distributedenvironment, such as servers on the World Wide Web.

Users 101 a, 101 b, 101 c, 101 d may access advisor server 150 throughany computer network 198 including the Internet, telecommunicationsnetworks in any suitable form, local area networks, wide area networks,wireless communications networks, cellular communications networks, G3communications networks, Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTNs),Packet Data Networks (PDNs), intranets, or any combination of thesenetworks or any group of two or more computers linked together with theability to communicate with each other.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, computer network 198 may be the Internet whereusers 101 a, 101 b, 101 c, 101 d are nodes on the network as is advisorserver 150. Users 101 a, 101 b, 101 c, 101 d and advisor server 150 maybe any suitable device capable of providing a document to anotherdevice. For example these devices may be any suitable servers,workstations, PCs, laptop computers, PDAs, Internet appliances, handhelddevices, cellular telephones, wireless devices, other devices, and thelike, capable of performing the processes of the exemplary embodimentsof FIGS. 1-6. The devices and subsystems of the exemplary embodiments ofFIGS. 1-6 can communicate with each other using any suitable protocoland can be implemented using one or more programmed computer systems ordevices. In general, these devices may be any type of computing platformconnected to a network and interacting with application programs.

Likewise, while component modules 152, 154, 156, 158, 160 areillustrated in FIG. 1 as being in advisor server 150, these componentmodules 152, 154, 156, 158, 160 may also be separate computing deviceson computer network 198.

The computer component modules 152, 154, 156, 158, 160 are discussedbelow in greater detail and with reference to the process flow diagramsFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D.

Acquire

In step 302, acquisition module 152 acquires a suspect list of userproducts such as a list of consumer electronics devices maintained inuser's computer 101 a, a list of mp3 files stored in a group's computer101 d, a list of computer games stored on an organization's server 101b, or a list of relevant information located on consumer's computer 101c. Similarly, the system and method of the present invention may acquirea suspect list of user products from any electronic device of theconsumer, such as a portable digital assistant (PDA), a handset, a smartphone, a cellular phone, and the like. The suspect list of user productsmay be acquired in a number of ways. For example, the acquisition module152 may initiate a system scan of the user's computer 101 a, 101 b, 101c, 101 d to examine a user's files or programs. This system scan may beperformed with or without the user's knowledge or permission, dependingupon the circumstances of the scan and the anticipated type of productsexpected to reside on the users' computers 101 a, 101 b, 101 c, 101 d.For example, when attempting to access a suspect list of computer gameprogram files, acquisition module 152 may initiate a system scan of usercomputer 101 a after requesting permission of the operator of usercomputer 101 a.

Conversely, acquisition module 152 may commence a system scan of anorganization's computer 101 b at a predetermined interval to examinecomputer files, game programs, and the like. This type of system scanmay have a user's tacit knowledge as a condition of his or herparticipation in the advisor server environment. In any event, theacquisition module 152 initiates a system scan to acquire a suspect listof user products.

Likewise, acquisition module 152 may also collect information from auser 101 a, 101 b, 101 c, 101 d as the user searches a web site or othernetwork location for products. The browsed products may then be added tothe suspect list. For example, a user 101 a, 101 b, 101 c, 101 d may beshopping for a particular computer game and store a title or descriptionof a suspect game to a user's collection. Acquisition module 152 maycollect information regarding the products from the user's collection,shopping carts, or other interim holding and listing mechanism.

Also, acquisition module 152 may track web site usage or network usageand add suspect products to a list. For example, a user may view aparticular product web page. Acquisition module 152 may then acquireproduct information from the visited web pages and add suspect productsto the user's suspect product list based upon the type of web page.Additionally, acquisition module 152 may acquire suspect productinformation by analyzing a web site or network location and importingthe information from a web page itself. For example, a web page, acollection of web pages, or a document located on a visited networklocation may be parsed to generate a list of commonly-occurring terms,product information, or suspect products, and the suspect products maybe added to the suspect product list. The forgoing examples areillustrations only, and other suitable techniques may be used to acquirea suspect list of user products and to update an existing suspect listof user products within the present invention.

Normalize

Regardless of the manner in which acquisition module 152 acquires asuspect list of user products, after the list is acquired in step 302,in step 304 it is normalized or matched to a standardized product listthat is maintained on the Advisor Server 150.

The normalization process is optional and may be performed before,during, or after the suspect list of user products is updated. Thenormalization process serves to provide a measure of standardizationwhen different users refer to the same product. This standardizationpromotes searching and reporting efficiencies within the system byreducing the number of database queries required.

Confirm

After the suspect list of user products is normalized to a product liston the product advisor server, in step 306 the system prompts the userto confirm the status of the products listed. That is, the useracknowledges that the normalized or standardized naming of the suspectproduct is in line with the user's understanding of the suspect productand that the normalized name accurately describes the product.

Product List Categorization

After the user acknowledges that the normalized list of suspect productsis an accurate representation of the products, in step 308 the userbegins to separate the products that he already owns from the productsthat he would like to own. If the user already owns the product, in step310 the user adds the product to an Owned Products List. In step 312 theuser ranks the product on the Owned Products List. If the user does notalready own the product, but decides in step 314 that he would like toown the item, the product is added to a Wish List in step 316. In step318, the user ranks the product on the Wish List. If, in step 314, theuser determines that they do not wish to own the suspect product, theproduct listing is discarded and the process stops in step 399.

Send Lists

In step 320, the user can send their Owned Product List or Wish List tothe Advisor Server, to another user, or to a Group.

Sent to Advisor Server

If the user sends their list to the Advisor Server, in step 322 theinvention acquires product lists from other users from a database ofproduct lists. These other acquired lists will serve as a basis ofcomparison with which the user's product list may be evaluated.

The invention checks to see if the user is registered in step 324, andif the user is registered, additional demographic data from a databaseof demographic data is also acquired in step 326. Additionally,behavioral data from a behavioral data database is acquired in step 328.These demographic and behavioral data may be stored in database 160 orany database otherwise accessible by advisor server 150. For registeredusers, these additional demographic and behavioral data supplement theproduct lists acquired in step 322. The additional demographic andbehavioral data form the basis for additional comparisons with the userproduct lists and product lists acquired from other users. If a user isnot registered, optional registration means may be provided to enablethe user to subscribe to the system.

Once the product list from other users and any demographic data andbehavioral data is acquired, the user confirms the product list isaccurate in step 330. The user may edit the product list by adding,deleting, or modifying the product list to ensure it is accurate.

Compare Lists Using Similarity Measurement

After the user confirms that the product list is accurate, in step 332the comparison module 154 compares the user's owned product list, wishlist, demographic and behavioral data (if applicable), and rankings withlists acquired from other users from the database of product lists.

To conduct this comparison, in step 334, the computation module 156computes a similarity percentage for each product list based on thenumber of similar products contained on the list that match theconsumer's list, rankings, behavioral, and demographic data. A rankedlist of recommended products the consumer does not own is then computedbased on the product of the similarity percentage of a product list andthe number of instances of un-owned products and the user and editorialratings of the product. A ranked list of recommended products theconsumer does not own is then made available to be displayed to theuser. The user may further modify this list based on additional rankingsThe following tables provide an illustration of this comparison methodand the resultant recommended product list. Other comparison methodsbased on known techniques, including Boolean and frequency weighting,clustering, and Bayesian approaches, and various collaborative filteringtechniques, may also be employed.

In Table 1, below, X represents that a particular letter user owns aparticular numbered product.

TABLE 1 Product 1 Product 2 Product 3 Product 4 Product 5 User A X X(consumer) User B X X User C X X User D X X X User E X X X User F X X X

Based upon which products are owned by both User A and by a differentuser, a similarity percentage is determined. The similarity percentageis calculated by determining the number of products that a particularletter user has in common with User A (consumer). The similaritypercentages are shown below in Table 2.

TABLE 2 Similarity Percentage Explanation User A N/A User A is the basisof the comparison. (consumer) User B 0% User B owns products 2 and 5,while User A owns products 1 and 3. User B owns 0 of 2 products thatUser A owns. Therefore, the similarity percentage is 0%. User C 0% UserC owns products 2 and 5, while User A owns products 1 and 3. User C owns0 of 2 products that User A owns. Therefore, the similarity percentageis 0%. User D 50%  User D owns products 3, 4, and 5, while User A ownsproducts 1 and 3. User D owns 1 of 2 products that User A owns.Therefore, the similarity percentage is 50%. User E 100%  User E ownsproducts 1, 2, and 3, while User A owns products 1 and 3. User E owns 2of 2 products that User A owns. Therefore, the similarity percentage is100%. User F 100%  User F owns products 1, 3, and 4, while User A ownsitems 1 and 3. User F owns 2 of 2 products that User A owns. Therefore,the similarity percentage is 100%.

To compute a ranked list of recommended products the consumer does notown, the product of the similarity percentage of a product list and thenumber of instances of un-owned products is calculated. That is:(Similarity percent).times.(number of instances of un-ownedproduct)=ranking In the current example, the multiplication products arecalculated for products 2, 4 and 5. They are not calculated for products1 and 3, because User A already owns products 1 and 3. Table 3 belowillustrates this calculation.

TABLE 3 Product 1 Product 2 Product 3 Product 4 Product 5 User A N/A N/AN/A N/A N/A (consumer) User B N/A (0%) × 1 = 0 N/A (0%) × 0 = 0 (0%) × 1= 0 User C N/A (0%) × 1 = 0 N/A (0%) × 0 = 0 (0%) × 1 = 0 User D N/A(50%) × 0 = 0 N/A (50%) × 1 = .5 (50%) × 1 = .5 User E N/A (100%) × 1 =1.00 N/A (100%) × 0 = 0 (100%) × 0 = 0 User F N/A (100%) × 0 = 0 N/A(100%) × 1 = 1.00 (100%) × 0 = 0 Sum N/A 0 + 0 + 0 + 1.00 + 0 = 1.00 N/A0 + 0 + .5 + 0 + 1.00 = 1.50 0 + 0 + .5 + 0 + 0 = .5

The sum is computed merely by adding the multiplication product for eachuser for each numbered product as shown in Table 3. Once the sums arecomputed for each numbered product, the un-owned products are rankedaccording to the largest sum. In the example above, the recommendedproduct list is sorted by rank as:

Rank:

1. Product 4 (sum is 1.50)

2. Product 2 (sum is 1.00)

3. Product 5 (sum is 0.5)

After the similarity measure is computed, the acquisition module 152acquires editorial rankings of the products in step 336. The editorialrankings for the products serve as another mechanism with which to sortthe recommended products. The system provides incentives to users tocapture user product data, editorial rankings, and user ratings. Byencouraging users to participate in the ranking process by providingcredits and other valuable items, a source of rating data is available.The ratings are then used to provide recommended products such as games,music, and the like, to other users. Similarly, with software files anddownloads, a list of the applications a user has is acquired, and thelist is compared with a database of other user lists and ratings, and aranked list of new software applications or downloads that the user maylike is returned. With consumer electronics and technology products, thesystem compares what a user has against a database of similar users andrecommends other electronic products. Regardless of the source of theeditorial rankings and the type of product ranked, in step 338 theranked list of products may be sorted by editorial rankings andpresented for display by display module 158.

As further illustrated in FIG. 2, comparison module 154 receives inputdata including user profile information, user product lists and ratings,and user wish lists and ratings. Comparison module 154 works withcomputation module 156 to employ collaborative filtering techniques andeditorial ratings to output a ranked recommended product list.

Upon presentation for display by the display module 158, the user nowhas a ranked recommended product list. To facilitate further action bythe user, such as to purchase recommended products or locate additionalinformation regarding the recommended products, in step 340 a mechanismand forum is provided in which the user may access additional documentsrelated to the products, may communicate with other users, and mayotherwise investigate the listed products and other related products.

Sent to Other Users

As shown in FIG. 3C, in step 352, if the user sends their list to otherusers, the acquisition module 152 acquires the other user's lists. Instep 354, comparison module 154 compares the user's owned product listor the user's wish list with an owned product list or wish list ofanother user. In step 356, the computation module 156 computes theoverlap and rankings of products common to both the user's list and theother users to whom the user's list was sent. Display module 158 thenpresents these common products to the user. In step 358, the computationmodule 156 computes the separation and rankings of differing products inboth the user's list and the other users to whom the user's list wassent. Display module 158 then makes available to the user the rankedlist of these differing products.

Upon presentation for display by the display module 158, the user nowhas a ranked recommended product list. To facilitate further action bythe user, such as to purchase recommended products or locate additionalinformation regarding the recommended products, in step 360 a mechanismand forum is provided in which the user may access additional documentsrelated to the products, may communicate with other users, and mayotherwise investigate the listed products and other related products.

Sent to Groups

As shown in FIG. 3D, in step 380, if the user sends their list to aGroup, the acquisition module 152, comparison module 154, computationmodule 156, and display module 158 carry out the method of the inventionin a similar fashion as described above with regard to the case where auser sends the products lists to the advisor server 150. When sendingthe product lists to the groups in step 380, the acquisition moduleacquires product lists from permissioned users in the Group, rather thanfrom an entire database of users as in the Advisor Server flowpreviously discussed. In this fashion, the system acquires a smaller,but likely more targeted set of product lists with which to compare tothe user's lists. If a user is not registered or otherwise haspermission to access the group of interest, optional registration meansmay be provided to enable the user to subscribe to the system.

As above, once the product list from group users is acquired, the userconfirms the product list is accurate in step 382. The user may edit theproduct list by adding, deleting, or modifying the product list toensure it is accurate. After the user confirms that the product list isaccurate, in step 384 the comparison module 154 compares the user'sowned product list, wish list, and rankings with lists acquired from thegroup.

In step 386, the computation module 156 computes the similarity measureas described above. Once the similarity measure is computed, acquisitionmodule 152 acquires editorial rankings of products on the lists in step388, and the computation module 156 computes the rankings of theproducts. Display module 158 then makes available to the user the rankedlist of products sorted by editorial rankings in step 390.

Upon presentation for display by the display module 158, the user nowhas a ranked recommended product list. To facilitate further action bythe user, such as to purchase recommended products or locate additionalinformation regarding the recommended products, in step 392 a mechanismand forum is provided in which the user may access additional documentsrelated to the products, may communicate with other group members, andmay otherwise investigate the listed products and other relatedproducts.

Regardless of the destination to which a user sends his owned productlist or wish list, the ranked recommended list of products that the userreceives as an output from the present invention opens innumerable doorsthrough which the user may enter.

Implementations—User Preferences

For example, if the list of “products” that a user submitted wasdirected to favorite computer games, a ranked recommended list ofcomputer games may be output and displayed to the user after completionof the above method of the present invention. Similarly, when a usersubmits a list of web sites, a ranked recommended list of web sites ispresented to the user. Drilling down further into this example, theparsing mechanism of the present invention, as executed by theacquisition module 152, may acquire configuration information related tothe user's favorite web sites, or specifically the user's favoritecomputer game web sites. This configuration information may be presentedin steps 340, 360, and 392, respectively, depending upon the particularproduct lists acquired for comparison, to allow a user to create andcustomize a personal web site on a computer game home page (alsoreferred to herein as “GameSpot”). In this fashion, a user may configureand personalize their favorite game site using their own preferences.While the below examples are directed to a “product” that is a computergame, these examples are merely illustrative of the system and methodsof the present invention, and any “product” as discussed above, may beused.

A. User-Preference Set-Up

A user may set up a “My Games & Preferences” page that personalizesfeatures of a game or a game's web site for a particular user. The “MyGames & Preferences” page offers a suite of unique, useful, andentertaining features designed to heavily engage the user with the gamesystem, or the game itself, as well as provide additional game siteusage and user preference data. A user may access their personalizedhome page when logging onto a game web site, such as prior to playingthe game, or at any time the user visits the web site.

For example, the web page, or the game's web page presents the user witha login box. As soon as the user logs in, a “My Games & Preferences”button is displayed. The user may choose to view the preferences or skipthe preferences and proceed directly to playing the game. If the userchooses the preferences button, the user initially views a defaultpersonalized home page configured with colors, buttons, and stylegraphics based upon the user's product lists and the ranked recommendedproduct list of configuration and graphics features present in theuser's listed web sites. The personalized web page can be a unique pagewith its own unique URL, based on the registered user's username. If theuser elects to make his page publicly visible, it can be surfaced fromother user pages as part of their ranked recommended product lists.Similarly, a shortcut button may be added to the user's personalizedhome page to show other “GameSpotters with similar tastes” to cull otherideas for customizing the user's home page.

B. User Preference Features

Other features that are included in user's preferences include user'spersonal space, including bio and site usage, forum usage statistics,the user's most wanted games list, the user's tracked games list, theuser's download and data streaming preferences, and additional buttonsoffering other functions such as shortcuts to a collection of games toplay, to a web storefront where additional materials may be purchased,to a review section offering product reviews, to a ratings page wherethe user may rate games, products, and features, to a forum where usersof similar interests communicate by trading messages, to a searchutility, and to other information.

1. User Space

A user space includes biographical and site usage information and isbased on and expanded out from a user account. The user space allowseasy access to account management and preferences options on the homepage, yet has the unique and fun user profile features typically foundin forums. Other users can access each other's profiles, but other userscannot adjust or edit someone else's preferences or data.

A gateway link entitled “My Games & Preferences” takes users directly totheir profile page. Also, wherever the user's username appears on thesite (e.g., reader reviews, forum posts, etc.), the username can behyperlinked to the user's profile page.

The user space includes a lot of information in a limited space. A tabstructure can be employed to let the user skip over to other areas ofthe page as well. Further, since user space pages can optionally bevisible to the public, the designs can look slightly different dependingon whether a user is looking at his own page or is looking at someoneelse's page.

The following information is presented on the user space page includingUsername (e.g., KarlB_Darkplayer), GameSpot Rank (e.g., Level 5:Shyguy), Personal Icon, Member Since (Month/Year), Last Online(DD-MMM-YYYY), Currently Online (Yes/No), Emblems Earned, Real Name,Birth Date, Location (City, State/Province, Country), Email, AOL IM,Yahoo! IM, ICQ IM, MSN IM, Xbox Live Gamertag, and Personal Photo (orlinks to gallery of more photos). This information may be required oroptionally-provided depending upon the circumstances and environment inwhich the user operates.

Additionally, group and community oriented information including FriendsList, Invite a Friend (to sign up for Basic/Complete), GS CommunityCenter, About Me (Biographical information), Signature (appears at theend of forum posts, reader reviews, etc.), and Private Inbox/Send User aPrivate Message designations may also be entered and displayed in theuser space page. Further, Games and Systems information may also beshown, such as “Now Playing” list of games, My System Specs (e.g., viasystem scan plug-in or manually-selected list), My Game Collection, MyMost Wanted Games, My Tracked Games, My Personal Game Store, and a linkor name for My Personal Home Page.

a. Personalized Home Page

A user's personalized home page (My Personal Home Page) can be modeledon platform and GameSpot Live pages. Content can be surfaced based onthe user's platform and game category preferences, and the content canbe organized based on the user's habits on the site.

For example, the content types used most frequently on the site (news,reviews, previews, screens, movie streams, etc.) can be prioritized onthe user's personalized home page. An embedded streaming video windowcan automatically appear on a user's personalized home page, and theplaylist can be catered to that user's preferences. The GameSpot topstory for the day can appear on this page, but need not be at the top. Amost popular list based on the user's preferences can also be presented.

As the user accesses these other features of the personalized home page,the system of the present invention tracks the user's site usage. Forexample, if the user is a GameSpot user and this week looked at Halo 2for the Xbox and Splinter Cell for the PC, this usage information istracked so the system can automatically recommend similar platform andsimilar game category preferences based upon the collected data.Similarly, based on a user's preferences, a personalized game store maybe configured and created by the acquisition module 152, comparisonmodule 154, and display module 158 to surface links for the user'stracked games, top-rated games that fit their category and platformpreferences, and the like.

Additionally, data related to Forums & Contributions may also be shownin the user space page including Most Visited Forums, My Forums, MyRecent Forum Posts, Total Number of Forum Posts, My Reader Reviews,Total Number of Games Rated, Average Game Rating, and My Reader ReviewShowcase.

Further, the user may show preferences and administrative functions suchas privacy settings (this page can be set as public (the default) orfriends-only, or anonymous), download/streaming preferences,advertisements on/advertisements off, ice on/ice off,notification/newsletter status (email, instant messaging, RSS), Accountmanagement, and the like. The user preferences and account informationis accessible only to the user (not available for public display). Otheroptions can include transmission capabilities such asnarrowband/broadband, screen resolution, rating system (numbers orletters), page skin/layout (choose from various themes), local videogame stores, local music stores, and other local merchants andproviders. Additionally, portable devices (for on-the-godelivery/consumption) are also listed. Enabling content consumption on auser's portable device, such as a mobile phone, is shown in detail inAppendix A.

b. User Demographic Information

User demographic information is collected and may be displayed or hiddendepending upon the user's preferences. For example, a username andpersonal icon may be entered. The birth date, address, email address,and Internet Service Provider also help characterize and profile theuser. Similarly, the date that the user began using the service, thedate that the user profile was last updated, and additional demographicinformation serve to help identify and categorize the user to betterprovide content in which the user will be likely to have an interest.

c. User Behavioral Information

Additional behavioral information may be collected once the user beginsaccessing the site. For example, the games listed and tracked on theuser's Most Wanted List are identified and tracked. Likewise, the user'smost Visited Forums, Latest Forum Posts, Total Number of Forum Posts,Latest Reader Reviews, Number of Games Reviewed, Number of Games Rated,and Average Rating given are all totaled and stored with the user'sbehavioral data. Similarly, the user's Total Visits to GameSpot, TotalMinutes on GameSpot, Average Number of Pages per Session, Average Numberof Visits per Week, and Last Pages Visited on GameSpot all providebehavioral data with which the user may be characterized to betterprovide content in which the user will be likely to have an interest.

2. User Linking

In order to increase the number of ways that users can network with oneanother, the system of the present invention properly hooks users upwith other users that have similar product tastes. For example, bycompiling and analyzing the statistics discussed above, users may viewlists of other users who share similar characteristics. A basic exampleis to let users view lists of users that claim to own any given game.Another example enables users to search for links to other users basedon their collection, their now playing list, or other list-typecriteria.

The present invention enables this search by providing a button on theprofile page that says “Find Users Like Me.” Clicking this buttonreturns a list of users and percentages, sorted by the percentage. Thepercentage indicates how many of the games in the first user'scollection are owned by the other users. The cut-off range for includingusers in this summary can be altered, for example, users with at least a50% match can be included in these results, but that number can beadjustable in the event that 50% returns too many or too few matches.

The system of the present invention allows users to add games to any oftheir lists and get to the game-specific forum at the GameSpace level byusing an add games button. This button for adding games also allows fora number of other features such as List removal, where once a user has agame on any of his lists, the user may stop tracking this game byactivating the appropriate “stop tracking this game” button or furtherremove the game from the user's now playing list by activating the“remove this game from my now playing list.”

Additional features available once the user adds a game to one of theuser's lists include “XX GameSpot Users Own This Game” where the top ofthe message box lists how many GameSpot users own any given game.Clicking this link takes the user to a list of the users that have agame in their collection. A prominent link to the GameSpace is providedon this page as well. Similarly, a “XX GameSpot Users Are Now PlayingThis Game” message may be displayed as above, but with the Now Playinglist.

An “Overall GameSpot Rank” may also be calculated based on the lists anddisplayed as “Currently Ranked XXX out of YYY Games”. This featureextends the list of the top 10 most popular spaces all the way down thesite and returns a numbered rank for every single space on the site.

a. Communities

Communities serve to unite users of similar interests andcharacteristics. Communities are social network services that enablesimilar users to meet, interact, and share knowledge and items ofinterest. Additionally, communities offer users the opportunity to earnrewards through active participation.

Communities allow users to create their own customizable profile pagewhere they can pre-set levels of privacy and access to their personalinformation. From users' profile pages, user may connect with otherusers through specialized “unions” or “groups,” send private messages,create friend lists, and visit forums where users can read posts byother users. Community pages are generated by display module 158 uponinput from the other modules 152, 154, 156, 160 in advisor server 150.An example of a community page template is shown in FIG. 4A. This viewof the community page is also known as the Community Front Door, becauseit is the entry point into the community of users. A screenshot of acommunity page served by advisor server 150 is illustrated in FIG. 4B.

As shown in FIG. 4A, a community page 400 may include sections tabbed asTracked 408, Collection 410, Wish List 412, Now Playing 414, Friends416, and Forums 418. These features of the communities within the systemand methods of the present invention are characterized below.

1) Tracked 408—allows users to get instant updates on GameSpot or viaemail whenever there are any news updates on their favorite games,either from GameSpot itself or from more the 350 other game sites aroundthe web;

2) Collection 410—where users can list all of the games they own andcompare them to other GameSpot users and even get an estimated value ontheir game collection. Collections also allow users to easily rate andkeep track of all of their games

3) Wish List 412—lets users pick the games they are hoping to buy in thefuture. During the holiday season, users' wish lists will be featured onthe front page of GameSpot, enabling gift givers to easily select, andthen instantly order games for participating friends and family;

4) Now Playing 414—allows users to define their “up to the minute”personal tastes and interests to other community members by listingtheir the games they are currently playing;

5) Friends 416—knowing that word of mouth is the best way to get gamerecommendations, the Friends page helps users reach each other forinsights into popular games, send private messages, and even findpotential online gaming opponents;

6) Forums 418—Forums are message boards for users to share theiropinions and thoughts, exchange hints and cheats, and more. The systemof the present invention includes a message board forum capable ofhandling more than 200,000 message posts per day. Forums are providedand linked to from sites located on the user's personalized home page.The forums may be a single, game-specific forum per game (irrespectiveof how many platforms the game is on; still just one forum), or moreglobal topic forums, depending upon the user's preferences and usagehistory.

7) Journals 406—Additional features of the Community page 400 includeJournal section 406. Journals give each user a personal soapbox anddiary. Journals are intended to foster user loyalty and engagement withthe sites and services produced by the system and method of the presentinvention, as well as a manner in which to foster community amongstusers.

In addition to accessing journals from Community page 400 by Journalsection 406, users can access their own journals from their user profilepages (for example, profile tab 404), and in turn, they can reach otherusers' journals from those users' profile pages. Additionally, userjournals can be accessible from unique URLs that incorporate usernames.It can also be possible for users to use RSS to either feed in anexisting journal into the present system or feed a journal out of thesystem.

Journals, as used in the system and methods of the present invention,are similar to flexiform threads, but have additional characteristicsthat provide added functionality. A journal is essentially a messageboard thread with write access limited to the specific owner of thejournal (the user), and read access based on the user's profile setting(public, friends only, anonymous). Journal entries are essentially thesame thing as message board posts, and can have the sameproperties—users can have access to a WYSIWIG editor for creatingjournal entries, and can then edit those entries using the existingtools. Journals can be paginated chronologically the same way messageboard threads already are. Journal entries should also have the samedropdown options as message board posts do, allowing readers to reportabuse and so on.

Some of the additional characteristics of the journals of the presentsystem that differ from flexiform threads include topic lines. Eachjournal entry can have a topic line, identical to when a user iscreating a topic in a forum, as opposed to responding to a topic.Additionally, users can enable (default) or disable user comments onjournal entries, which can be a new option in the user's preferences.The “Comments” system replaces the “Reply” and “Quote Reply” optionsfound in GameSpot forum threads, and allows readers to respond tojournal entries. Comments can be listed as follows: “Comments (#)”,where # is the number of comments that have already been submitted,e.g., “Comments (5)”. Clicking the comments link next to a journal entryis how you read comments about the journal entry and/or submit your own.Comments on journals can be added via a pop-up tool based on a CommunityMessenger. Comments are listed in chronological order in a simpletext-based format with the comment itself, the author's username, and atimestamp for when the comment was posted. The comment submission fieldis at the end.

Individual journal comments optionally can have report-abuse options, asthe report abuse option on the journal entries themselves can serve wellenough for policing comments related to the journal entry. Journalentries need not have signatures. However, images and HTML arepermitted. Users can extract their journals from their profile pages, oreven import an existing journal into the system. An option to “Add alink to my journal to my sig” can also be employed.

When visiting another user's profile, the Journal tab 406 can behighlighted if the user has posted at least one journal entry. Also, theuser may set an “Allow Comments/Do Not Allow Comments” parameter viaradio buttons (default=comments on), which can be definable on apost-by-post basis.

Additionally, at the top of the page, the user is prompted to name hisjournal (as though creating a User Created Board), a parameter that canbe save-able but also changeable at any time. By default, the system canname users' journals “[Username]'s Personal Journal”. On a journalpreferences page, this section indicates “Optional: Please describeyourself or describe what your journal's about. Your description will bedisplayed on your journal.” If the user doesn't put anything in hisdescription field, the description box simply need not appear on hisjournal pages.

Journal topics are grouped by date. In keeping with journal and bloggingconventions, topics can be grouped by date (per the format in thedesign). So if a user posts two journal up-dates today, both updates aregrouped under the heading of “Tuesday—August 24, 2004”. In turn,individual topics only get a timestamp. Times can be displayed as “4:36pm”, or as “4:36 PM”. Timezones are selected based on the user'slocation preference, or selected from a list.

Also, journals are subject to the same terms of service and postingguidelines with regard to content restrictions as typical posts. Insteadof a message saying, “When writing your message, remember to keep thelanguage clean”, the system can include the following instructionaltext, such as “This journal is for you to share or explore your thoughtsabout gaming or other topics. However, when writing your entries, pleaseremember to keep the language clean” or the like.

When visiting one's own Journal tab 406 subsequent times, the view canbe of the journal entries themselves—that is, the same view as otherusers would see, but would include an option to “Post New Journal Entry”(needs graphic) instead of the usual Post New Message. Further, journalauthors can be allowed to comment on their own journal entries ifdesired and if they've enabled commenting. Users may delete theirjournal entries one at a time, and there can be an Are You Sure? promptprior to deletion.

The journal can also be surfaced on the user's profile page, in thePersonal Data section, below the About Me section—especially whenlooking at profiles for those users who have posted to their journals.

The format, when looking at the profile of someone who has previouslyposted a journal entry, is as follows in Table 4:

TABLE 4 Format Example [Journal Name] [GregK's Personal Journal] [LatestJournal Entry Title] [Revisiting Panzer Dragoon Orta] Posted [Jun. 25,2004 3:07 am GMT]

The latest journal entry title is hyperlinked to the journal page.

If looking at the Community page 400 prior to posting a journal entryfor the first time, there appears a “My Personal Journal” linkunderneath the “My User-Created Board.” The User-Created Board link andthe journal link can be temporary here, since this box is labeled “MyStats”—The system can fill it with stats and add another box called “MyForums” for these.)

8) Now Playing 414—Additional features of the Community page 400 includeNow Playing section 414. The Now Playing tab 414 automatically lists thegames in the user's Now Playing list. If the user has nothing on his NowPlaying list, this tab section is grayed out. This box stretchesvertically based on the total number of games in a user's Now Playinglist.

9) Friends' Journals 416—This tab automatically surfaces the usernamesor icons of up to eight friends—specifically, up to eight friends thathave most recently updated their journals. So, even if I have 50friends, whoever among them updated their journals most recently aregoing to be the friends who show up on my list. Users who set theirjournals to NOT be publicly viewable are automatically excluded fromthese lists.

Preferably, users who set their journals to “Friends Only” are displayedin these lists expressly to those who are their friends. For example, ifSteve, Trey, and JSD are all friends, then they can see each other ontheir friends lists. Greg, who is friends only with Steve, couldn't seeTrey's and JSD's journals from Steve's journal, however. Alternatively,the system may post an error message for users trying to accessrestricted journals. Generally, restricted journals have their tabsgrayed out. If I visit your profile and you have a journal, but it's forfriends only and I'm not your friend, then I see a grayed out journaltab.

Additional Community Features

The Community front door provides an entry point into pages in whichlike users meet and interact, but importantly the community of usersprovides the collaborative data with which the ranked list ofrecommended products is compiled. The community as an entity is formedby a series of new, personalized pages produced by the system and methodof the present invention by the overarching “community” framework thatexposes trends and accomplishments within the collection of users whoopt to participate (also know as “GameSpot Community”). The community isconcisely presented by way of personalized and customized options to theuser, including existing download and media preferences and accountsettings, as well as additional settings.

The advisor server 150 provides a gateway hub from which users canaccess the individual components of their community pages as well asfind other users' pages as well as see various interesting statisticsabout the community. These statistics include, for example, total numberof members (i.e., number of basic and number of complete members can besurfaced), total number of members currently online, member of the week,(spotlighting a key member's profile and granting that member the topgames on his wish list). Also, the most owned and most wanted games byplatform is also displayed, based on users' game collections and mostwanted lists. Additional community statistics compiled and displayedinclude the most popular forums and forum threads and a color-codedworld map showing where GameSpot users are concentrated.

Announcements

As also shown in FIG. 4A, Announcements box 432 employs a User Interfaceso that the community manager can update it frequently. The UserInterface is functionally similar to a journal User Interface, but theAnnouncements box 432 has the ability to float announcements (e.g., the“Terms of Service” announcement can always be on top). Also like journalentries, announcements carry a timestamp for context. For end users,there is also navigation capabilities at the bottom of the scroll box toflip through “previous>>” announcements.

Search

The search field 434 includes radio buttons beneath the search field 434to allow the user to choose the destination for his search from GameSpot436 (by default), Message Boards 438, and Users 440. These options canwork intuitively; the default search is equivalent to initiating asearch from the main GameSpot page.

My Info

The field labeled “My Stats” can have its name changed to My Info 442.The My Info box 442 can list the user's username and icon; however, thedimensions of the My Info box 442 can change to a wide-and-shortrectangle; the username can appear directly above the avatar, with bothleft justified in the box.

The middle of the My Info box 442 is an automatically-scrolling,automatically-wrapping statistics box with the heading “Vital Stats”.Users can increase the speed of the scrolling by mousing over the box.The contents can include the following fields: Level, Percent to NextLevel, Current Rank, Next Rank, Last Online, Most Visited Forum, TotalForum Posts, Total Messages Read, Total Number of Messages Edited, TotalTime Online, Preferred Genre, Total Number of Games Rated, Total Numberof Games Reviewed, Average Game Rating, Total Number of Private MessagesSent, Member Since, Community Ranking, Number of Thumbs Ups, AverageNumber of Visits Per Week, Total Number of Friends, Total Number ofThreads Locked, Next Game on Wish List, Total Number of Tracked Games,Total Number of Games in Collection, Total Number of Games in Wish List,Total Number of Games Now Playing, Average Number of Pages Per Visit,Total Number of Private Messages Received, Estimated Value ofCollection, Most Recent Emblem, Number of Trusters, Total Number ofThreads Moderated, Most Pages Visited Per Session, Most Visited Contenton GameSpot, and Total Visits to GameSpot.

The statistics are compiled based on the behavior of GameSpot visitorsas they navigate the site, update their biographical information,provide ratings of products, share information, and interact in thecommunity. These data are then used by the advisor server to return aranked recommended list of products to users.

Community Reviews

As illustrated in FIGS. 5A-5C, one method of providing guidance andrecommendations to users is by way of reader reviews, or more broadlyCommunity Reviews. Community Reviews provide insight and recommendationsfrom users 507 to users regarding a variety of products. Registeredusers can submit reviews and review forum posts to include abutton-based Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down voting system 509. Anonymous orunregistered users attempting to vote are taken to a basic sign-up pageto register so that they may vote. Once a user has voted on a post or areview, a Thank You message appears instead of the vote prompt.

Users with the greatest number of Thumbs Up votes for either their postsor their reviews earn unique emblems respective to posts or reviews.Emblems are listed and described further in Appendix B. There are threelevels of emblem: Top 100, Top 500, and Top 1,000. These emblems aremutually exclusive to each other. In addition to earning emblems ontheir profile pages, users to whom votes are cast also gain a symbolnext to their username. These symbols say “top 100”, and the like,depending upon the level. These symbols then follow the user and appearwherever these users post materials.

On a community review index page, 10 percent of the total reviews(rounded to the nearest whole number, e.g. if there are 15 reviews, then10 percent=2 reviews) become “featured reviews”. Featured reviews 511are at the top of the page and gain that status from user voting; thereview with the most Thumbs Up votes is the top review. Remainingreviews can appear in a “Latest Reviews” section 513 beneath theFeatured Reviews 511. At the bottom of a community review, FeaturedReviews 511 and up to three Latest Reviews 513 are listed. If thecommunity review itself is one of the Featured Reviews 511 or one of thetop three Latest Reviews 513, then the reference to it can be omittedfrom listings at the bottom.

A fairly prominent button entitled “Read More Reviews of this Game onGameFAQs.com” 515, can link to the respective reader review index pageon GameFAQs. This button 515 appears on community review index pages aswell as at the bottom of individual community reviews. Community reviewsare functionally similar to message board posts. That is, the reviewscan be administered, reported, or edited.

When a user elects to write a review (FIG. 5C), in addition to ratingthe game and writing the review, the user can fill in the followingfields via drop-down menus 531, 533, 535:

Difficulty 531 (Very Easy, Easy, Just Right, Hard, Very Hard)

Learning Curve 533 (0 to 30 Minutes, 30 to 60 Minutes, 1 to 2 Hours, 2-4Hours, 4 or More Hours)

Time Spent Playing 535, to Date (10 Hours or Less, 10 to 20 Hours, 20 to40 Hours, 40 to 100 Hours, 100 or More Hours)

Additionally, a reviewer may be prompted by the system to enter a reviewsummary 537, equivalent to the topic of a forum thread. The reviewsummary 537 may then appear on review summary pages. The review summaryis limited to 30 words. At the top of the review summary pages, thereare four pie charts 555, 557, 559, 561, respectively displaying ScoreBreakdown (based on score ranges) 555, Difficulty Breakdown 557,Learning Curve Breakdown 559, and Time Spent Breakdown 561, based onstats from reader review submissions. The pie charts 555, 557, 559, 561provide a quick summary to a user glancing at the review pages.

Community User Ratings

In order to facilitate further interaction within the community ofusers, and in order to refine ranked recommended product offerings, areader rating system is used to evaluate and rate products. As shown inFIGS. 6A-6D, the community user ratings are a Flash-based unit, allowingthe user to use a slider 606 to assign a score between 1.0 and 10 andthen click “Go” 608 to lock in the score. The pluses 610 and minuses 612on opposite sides of the sliding scale can increase the score inincrements of 0.1. The community score 614 (i.e., average user rating)and corresponding one-word descriptor can change in real time as theuser manipulates the sliding scale.

The pointer on the slider defaults to indicating the point on the scalethat corresponds to the community score as shown in FIG. 6A (Example 1).If no one has rated a game yet, then the player score appears null, andthe pointer on the slider defaults to the 7.0 “redline” on the scale asshown in FIG. 6B (Example 2). After a user has rated a game, his scoreis displayed beneath the sliding scale, and the “Go” button is replacedwith a “Reset Your Score” button 616 as shown in FIG. 6C (Example 3).Clicking on the “Reset Your Score” button 616 omits the user's scorefrom the database and reverts to an Example 1 (shown in FIG. 6A)treatment, as though the reviewer had not rated the game yet.

The system of the present invention allows the ability to surface apop-up version of this flash unit (or some other, similar solution)elsewhere on the site—specifically, from a user's Collection pages,where they are invited to “Rate it!” for each game they own.

If a game has not yet been officially released (that is, the game'srelease date is in the future), the reader scoring system component doesnot appear and the Add to Collection and Now Playing options areunavailable as shown in FIG. 6D (Example 4). Further, if a user has notyet registered or is anonymous, the Add to Collection and Now Playingoptions are grayed out if a game's release date is in the future.

The system includes the ability to remove games from lists in the sameway as they can be added, wherein minus graphics can replace the plusgraphics in those cases as shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B (examples 1 and 2).

A “Quick Stats” section 618 illustrates community stats detailingcommunity activity at the game level. For all games, an overall rankingcan be assigned, ranging from the #1 game on down, based on total numberof games in the system database as shown in FIGS. 6A-6D. The rankingalso indicates the extent to which the ranking has changed recently, bynoting how many (if any) ranks the game jumped up or down in the lastday.

For games that are available, the system lists how many users have thegames in their collections and in their now playing lists, as shown inFIGS. 6A-6C (examples 1, 2, and 3). These declarations can behyperlinked to emblem-style lists of those users. The system canpaginate such pages, to display, for example, 200 users at a time.

As shown in FIG. 6D, for games that are not yet available, the systemcan declare how many users have the particular game in their wish lists(but not tracked games lists). These declarations can also behyperlinked to emblem-style lists of those users, paginated, anddisplayed as well.

My Game Collection and My Most Wanted (Games)

The Game Collection & Most Wanted page can offer GameSpot users a free,personalized service by which users can maintain a list of the gamesthey own and want to own, and have automatic access to a number ofunique features and statistics concerning their lists. The My GameCollection & My Most Wanted gives users the ability to easily buildtheir game collection list and game wish list and to keep track of thegames on those lists. The My Game Collection & My Most Wanted pages arepublicly visible (by default), so users can exchange links to them forbragging rights, and can also readily access useful information aboutthe games they own or plan to own. For example, the system of thepresent invention keeps track of statistics, and can feature an ongoing“Win your Most Wanted” contest to entice users into using the service.

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a method inwhich users can build their game collections on GameSpot. In the MyGames & Preferences page, another gateway link takes users directly tothe “My Game Collection” section of the My Games & Preferences. Thislink and page surfaces a search box labeled, “Add Games to YourCollection.” Search options, such as “Search by Title” and othercriteria for sorting the search results are employed, such as communityratings, number of discussions in the forums, and the like. When theSearch Results are displayed, an “I own this game, Add it to mycollection” button is used to automatically add games that the user ownswhose release date is less than or equal to today's date (i.e., thegames are available). Alternatively, a button called “I want this game,Add it to my wish list” appears for games that the user would like toown. A small pop-up window is included to confirm the user's action. Ifa user has a game in his collection, neither button need appear, and thesystem shows a message button such as “You own this game” or “This gameis on your wish list” depending upon the status of the game. Clickingany of that message text button takes the user to his collection page.If a user has a game in his wish list, and the game is available, thecollection button appears. Adding a wish list game to a collectionautomatically removes the game from the user's wish list. To safeguardthe lists, games may only be remove from a collection from thecollection page.

Also, the system can also give users the option to import a collectionlist from another source, such as a web page or other network document.Users can plug in a URL or paste in a text document with a games listthat the system can parse and interpret and use to add games to therespective lists.

For example, a user can select the “Import Your Game Collection from aWeb Page”, such as an IGN user page that they've already built, or aforum post they've created. The system queries the web page or documentfor game titles listed using delimited text, paragraph breaks, commas,spaces, tables, and the like. The system automatically adds the locatedgame titles to a user's game collection. A one-step approval processoccurs first, which allows the user to uncheck any games that wereimproperly added (e.g., multiple versions of multiplatform games). Theuser then can continue to add games manually via additional searches.

As an alternate importing method allows users to enter the 12-digit UPCthat appears with the bar code on the back of every retail game. UPCdata is already being collected, but UPC data for multiple versions of agame can also be stored. For example, Halo for the Xbox was released intwo editions—the software is identical, but the Game of the Yearpackaging has a different UPC than the original release. Additionally,the system can store UPC data for foreign versions of games.

Similarly, multiple versions of the same game may also be stored in theappropriate user list. For example, the Japanese version of a game isoftentimes different than its domestic release. In order to cater bothto the importer market as well as foreign users, the system of thepresent invention allows users to select which version of a game theyhave. Someone who was a gaming devotee may have imported a game and thenpurchased its domestic counterpart. This user would want to show thosedifferences and the multiple versions as part of their collection. Thus,two entries for the same game are possible, provided those entries referto different versions of the game. If the UPC for the foreign release isnot available, the system offers a “Can't find your game in our system?Contact us!” link on the collection page that enables a user to send ane-mail to the data group producing the system of the present invention.The system also solicits users for some of the missing data (e.g.,foreign UPCs) at this point.

Users may also designate a subset of games in their collection as gamesthey're “Now Playing.” This list shows up at the top level of a user'spublic profile. Up to ten games may be designated as “now playing.” Thesystem of the present invention factors game rentals into this list aswell.

Once the user builds a My Game Collection or a Most Wanted list, theuser can customize the design of the My Game Collection page or the MostWanted list page. For example, these pages can take the same basicdesign as for Search, because they can serve a similar purpose—to pointthe user to the system resources for those games, as well as to provideuseful and interesting at-a-glance information about each game. Thesystem allows the user to customize the fields that appear on the pageby turning on or off a check-boxed row of possible data types. Displayedcolumns can be shifted left or right. Users may also restore a defaultview if they decide to abandon their changes.

The My Collection list and the Wish List are sortable by the listedfields, and a dropdown box or similar item can let users set the list todisplay games from one platform. Another similar checkbox is availableto “show only online games.” The following list of fields are availableincluding, Game Name (clicking on this field takes the user to thegamespace), Platform, Publisher, Developer, Territory/Region, Genre,Release Year, Release Date, GameSpot Review Score (clicking on thisfield takes the user to the review pages), Reader Review Score (clickingon this field takes the user to a reader review index), User's PersonalReview Score (clicking on this field takes the user to user's review, orto a “review it” page if the user hasn't reviewed that game yet), Numberof Players, Last Update (refers to the post date and story type of mostrecent story in gamespace), Online (Y/N), Completed (Y/N), Number ofGameSpot Users That Own This Game (clicking on this field takes the userto a list of users, sorted alphabetically, that own this game), andOverall Rank of Game (the higher the number of users claiming to ownthis game is, the higher its rank).

Additionally, the system automatically tabulates the following measuresfor each user's collection, including Total Games in Collection,Estimated Value of Collection, Average GameSpot Score of Collection,Average Reader Score of Collection, Average Game Rankings Score ofCollection, Preferred Types of Games, Owned Gaming Platforms, PreferredGaming Platform, Oldest Game Owned, Newest Game Owned, and Last GameAdded.

The system can automatically tabulate the following for each user's wishlist, including Most Wanted Collection Stats, Total Games in MostWanted, Estimated Cost of Most Wanted, and Estimated Cost of Most Wanted(with discounts or other special offers).

The system also provides graphically (e.g., bar graph or pie chart, orthe like) the following analysis, including Breakdown of games byplatform, Breakdown of games by genre, and Breakdown of games by year ofrelease.

Using the Game Collection and Wish Lists, system-wide statistics areavailable, including stat lists such as Most Owned games (clicking onthis name field takes the user to a list of users that own the game),Most Wanted Games (the game with the most wish list appearances leadshere—clicking on a name field here takes the user to a list of usersthat want the game), Largest Collection (shows users with the mostgames), Most Owned Platform, Most Owned Publisher, Most ValuableCollection (can include retail prices for old and/or foreign games),Most Played Game (highest number of current “Now Playing” appearanceswins.

Additionally, the Game Collection and Wish Lists collections enables aGame Collection Image where the system of the present invention enablesusers to display a digital photo of their game setups and/or gamecollections by uploading those photos to this space.

Once the statistics are compiled by the system of the present invention,users may communicate with each other, and the system may facilitatecommunication between users with similar tastes by analyzing the GameCollection and Wish Lists and demographic and behavioral statistics. Forexample, if two users with public collections have X percentage of gamesin common (e.g., 50 percent of the smaller collection's games, thoughthe number must be at least 10 games to prevent people from entering onepopular game and suddenly being bombarded with every list in thesystem), the system invites them to look at each others' pages, sendeach other a nice note, leave feedback on that user, and so on. Wheneverone user is looking at other user's collection, games that are in thefirst user's collection are highlighted. This highlighting feature,combined with the ability to show online games, allows for users to findonline games more easily, thereby facilitating two previously unknownusers to play together.

My Reader Reviews & FAQs (i.e., My Contributions)

The system can list the games for which the user has reader reviewsand/or frequently asked questions (FAQs) posted. The system can alsosurface reader reviews for an individual user that were not posted.Users can edit their reader reviews, but the re-posted reader reviewswill indicate the time when the review was last edited.

Other users can be able to give reader review a “Thumbs Up” if theyfound the reader's review useful. Reviews with the greatest number ofThumbs Ups can float to the top of a games-pace's reader review list.Users who earn the greatest number of thumbs ups across their reviewsreceive special privileges as incentive to post reviews. Users may alsoindicate that they “Trust This Reviewer”. The system will automaticallynotify this user when the “trusted” reviewer posts additional messagesor reviews. Also, the “Trusted By # GameSpot Community Members”statistic can appear on the trusted reviewer's Reader Review page.

If a user has posted no reader reviews, he will be invited to write areview for games in his collection. An explanatory paragraph canenlighten users as to what reader reviews are all about and why they'reuseful.

Game Collection

With regard to the feature above where a user builds a game collection,on the My Games & Preferences page, the system may surface a search boxlabeled, “Search for Games to Add Them to Your Collection.” On SearchResults, in addition to a “track it” button, an “I own this game” buttoncan be added to facilitate population of a user's product lists ofproducts that they already own and a user's wish list. These trackingand ownership buttons may also be shown in other features, such as inthe review section, where a user reads reviews of various products.

Additionally, users can populate their game collection list by importinglists from other sources. That is, a button labeled “Import Your GameCollection from a Web Page” enables the present invention to query a webpage that a user may have previously created for all game titles. Oncethe game titles are located, acquisition module 152 acquires the gametitles and automatically adds those titles to a user's game collectionlist. The process may include an approval process, which would allow theuser to remove any games that were improperly added, and a manual stepto permit the user to add games manually.

Any number of sorting and filtering options are provided where the usercan manipulate the game collection list. Additionally, a user has theability to easily rate each game in the collection. The system can tallytotal number of games, by platform and overall, and also estimate thetotal value of a user's game collection based on game MSRP (or perhaps,more accurately, based on used game prices).

Game collection statistics are tallied including the Total Games inCollection, Estimated Value of Collection, Average GameSpot Score ofCollection, Average Reader Score of Collection, Preferred Genres, OwnedGaming Platforms, Oldest Game Owned, Newest Game Owned, and the like.

The devices and subsystems of the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 1-6 arefor exemplary purposes, as many variations of the specific hardware usedto implement the exemplary embodiments are possible, as will beappreciated by those skilled in the relevant arts. For example, thefunctionality of one or more of the devices and subsystems of theexemplary embodiments of FIGS. 1-6 can be implemented via one or moreprogrammed computer systems or devices.

To implement such variations as well as other variations, a singlecomputer system can be programmed to perform the special purposefunctions of one or more of the devices and subsystems of the exemplaryembodiments of FIGS. 1-6. On the other hand, two or more programmedcomputer systems or devices can be substituted for any one of thedevices and subsystems of the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 1-6.Accordingly, principles and advantages of distributed processing, suchas redundancy, replication, and the like, also can be implemented, asdesired, to increase the robustness and performance of the devices andsubsystems of the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 1-6.

The devices and subsystems of the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 1-6 canstore information relating to various processes described herein. Thisinformation can be stored in one or more memories, such as a hard disk,optical disk, magneto-optical disk, RAM, and the like, of the devicesand subsystems of the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 1-6. One or moredatabases of the devices and subsystems of the exemplary embodiments ofFIGS. 1-6 can store the information used to implement the exemplaryembodiments of the present invention. The databases can be organizedusing data structures (e.g., records, tables, arrays, fields, graphs,trees, lists, and the like) included in one or more memories or storagedevices listed herein. The processes described with respect to theexemplary embodiments of FIGS. 1-6 can include appropriate datastructures for storing data collected and/or generated by the processesof the devices and subsystems of the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 1-6in one or more databases thereof.

All or a portion of the devices and subsystems of the exemplaryembodiments of FIGS. 1-6 can be conveniently implemented using one ormore general purpose computer systems, microprocessors, digital signalprocessors, micro-controllers, and the like, programmed according to theteachings of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as willbe appreciated by those skilled in the computer and software arts.Appropriate software can be readily prepared by programmers of ordinaryskill based on the teachings of the exemplary embodiments, as will beappreciated by those skilled in the software art. Further, the devicesand subsystems of the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 1-6 can beimplemented on the World Wide Web. In addition, the devices andsubsystems of the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 1-6 can be implementedby the preparation of application-specific integrated circuits or byinterconnecting an appropriate network of conventional componentcircuits, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the electricalarts. Thus, the exemplary embodiments are not limited to any specificcombination of hardware circuitry and/or software.

As stated above, the devices and subsystems of the exemplary embodimentsof FIGS. 1-6 can include computer readable media or memories for holdinginstructions programmed according to the teachings of the presentinvention and for holding data structures, tables, records, and/or otherdata described herein. Computer readable media can include any suitablemedium that participates in providing instructions to a processor forexecution. Such a medium can take many forms, including but not limitedto, non-volatile media, volatile media, transmission media, and thelike. Non-volatile media can include, for example, optical or magneticdisks, magneto-optical disks, and the like. Volatile media can includedynamic memories, and the like. Transmission media can include coaxialcables, copper wire, fiber optics, and the like. Transmission media alsocan take the form of acoustic, optical, electromagnetic waves, and thelike, such as those generated during radio frequency (RF)communications, infrared (IR) data communications, and the like. Commonforms of computer-readable media can include, for example, a floppydisk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other suitablemagnetic medium, a CD-ROM, CDRW, DVD, any other suitable optical medium,punch cards, paper tape, optical mark sheets, any other suitablephysical medium with patterns of holes or other optically recognizableindicia, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other suitablememory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave, or any other suitable mediumfrom which a computer can read.

1. A computer implemented method for establishing and maintaining anonline community of users of products, the method comprising: via anInternet-compatible communications interface, receiving data regarding aplurality of users, and receiving data regarding at least one user-ownedproduct, the data regarding at least one user-owned product including aprice of the product; associating at least one user-owned product havingreceived price data with at least one product user; estimating the valueof at least one associated product, at least in part as a function ofreceived price data; and via the Internet-compatible communicationsinterface, providing functionality allowing each profiled user to searchand retrieve an estimated used value of a product, including thecumulative used value of a subset of products associated with the userand having estimated prices.